Seasoned journalist Yvonne Okwara has left Citizen TV, ending eight and a half years at the Royal Media Services-owned station and a broadcasting career of about 20 years.
Okwara announced her exit on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at the end of The Explainer, her weekly current affairs show. Speaking from her “Yvonne’s Take” desk, she told viewers she was leaving to pursue a new challenge.
“After 20 years of building this ship, it is time to build another,” she said. She did not reveal her next move but signalled that she was taking a new direction rather than stepping away altogether. “So, I am not done building. I’m simply moving to build something else,” she said.
Her exit takes her back to where her career began. Her early break came at Hot 96, a Royal Media Services station, where veteran broadcaster Jimmy Gathu gave her an opportunity.
“When I walked through these doors 20 years ago, I was young, fresh from university,” she said. “The very place I started my career in journalism is the same place I get to wrap things up.” In her farewell, Okwara thanked her mentors and colleagues, including Gathu, Joe Ageyo, former Standard Group CEO Sam Shollei, Monica Kiragu and Royal Media Services Managing Director Wachira Waruru.
She also thanked the News Gang panellists and newsroom staff, including photojournalists, drivers and make-up artists, and closed with a message to viewers: “Keep asking the right questions. Keep holding power to account.”
She also paid tribute to her family. “To my family and to the one I love, thank you,” she said.
A microbiology graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Okwara started out at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, presenting a children’s programme. She later worked at Hot 96 and then the Nation Media Group, where, in 2008, she produced a radio talk show on QFM and did voice-overs for NTV’s Money Matters.
She joined KTN in 2012 and moved to Citizen TV in 2018 as a prime-time news anchor. At Citizen, she rose to the position of senior news anchor and editor in charge of research and planning. She helped set up News Gang, a Thursday night political and current affairs programme, and later hosted The Explainer.
Over the years, she interviewed prominent figures, including President William Ruto, Cabinet Secretaries and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. She also moderated the 2017 presidential debate, which established her as one of the country’s most respected interviewers.
